Tag: Darren Fells

Texans offense stayed on schedule against the Titans

The Houston Texans offense did a good job staying on schedule against the Tennessee Titans in the 42-36 overtime loss.

Lost in the Houston Texans’ 42-36 overtime loss to the Tennessee Titans in Week 6 is how well the offense actually played.

Since the firing of Bill O’Brien as coach, the Texans have produced two consecutive games scoring at least 30 points.

According to quarterback Deshaun Watson, nothing has changed with the offense’s identity; apparently, this is who they were. What has changed is they haven’t faced a bevy of second-and-longs and third-and-longs.

“I wouldn’t say we were different,” said Watson, who completed 28 of 37 for 335 yards and four touchdowns. “We were doing what we was doing. We just had more opportunities to take the shot. We stayed ahead of the chains. We took advantage of getting third and short and capitalizing on there and we had the opportunity to take shots, and we did that. We did what we needed to do.”

The Texans were also 7-of-14 on third downs, up from their 37.7% for the season.

Tight end Darren Fells says what has changed with the offense is players aren’t as rigid and overthinking.

“I feel like the biggest difference is just guys are finally coming out, playing a little bit looser,” said Fells, who caught six passes for 85 yards and a touchdown. “Been struggling to get things started, obviously the first four games and not being able to get that W. So, finally going out there and getting the offense moving a little bit, getting relaxed, getting that first W and able to come back out here more relaxed.”

Even Watson’s sack numbers have dipped in the past two weeks. The two-time Pro Bowler led the NFL with 16 after four weeks. However, he has taken just three in the past two games.

“Offensive line played a really good game and gave me time to make the threes down the field and that’s what we did,” said Watson. “It wasn’t nothing different out there. We just continue to build on that.”

Houston will have to find ways to keep building. It may take scoring in the forties for the Texans to start coming away with victories.

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WATCH: Texans QB Deshaun Watson throws TD pass to TE Darren Fells versus Jaguars

The Houston Texans took the lead 10-7 against the Jacksonville Jaguars with Deshaun Watson throwing a 44-yard touchdown pass to Darren Fells.

The Houston Texans have been demonstrating some of their offseason optimism against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Quarterback Deshuan Watson threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to tight end Darren Fells that was mostly yards after the catch. Fells found the soft spot in the zone coverage and it was off to the races.

The defense was pumped up on the sidelines from the score. Truly the Texans are having fun again, though their 10-7 lead over the Jaguars midway in the second quarter needs more padding.

The touchdown reception was the second-longest of Fells’ career. Longest was in Week 4 of 2018 when he was with the Cleveland Browns, catching a 49-yard scoring pass from Baker Mayfield.

Texans coach Bill O’Brien walks through decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 against the Ravens

Houston Texans coach Bill O’Brien provided an explanation as to why his offense went for it on fourth-and-1 against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 2.

The Houston Texans were gutsy against the Baltimore Ravens, but it wasn’t enough as they fell 33-16 Sunday afternoon in the NRG Stadium opener.

One of the turning points of the game was fourth-and-1 from the Houston 34-yard line with two seconds left in the first quarter. The Texans were down 3-0 to the Ravens, and the offense stayed on the field to pick up the yard to convert.

Coach Bill O’Brien explained to the Houston media after the game his thought process as to why the offense went for it rather than sending Bryant Anger out to punt.

“We had a fourth-and-1 early in the game and then the game was changed a little bit,” O’Brien said. “We punted that one and then they went down and kicked a field goal, but they possessed the ball. So, again, we felt like we needed possessions in the game, so we decided to go for it.

“We put a play out there, they called timeout, we changed the play. The play didn’t work, and, so, we didn’t convert it.”

On the failed fourth down attempt, quarterback Deshaun Watson attempted to hit tight end Darren Fells. Instead, Watson was sufficiently pressured to where he threw off balanced and the ball landed at the heels of his tight end, turning the ball over on downs.

“But that’s just the way it works,” said O’Brien. “They did a better job than us on that and we just need to work hard to improve.”

The Texans will need to improve on their third down conversions as well. Houston faced a third-and-1 the play prior and Watson’s pass was incomplete. For the afternoon the Texans were 3-of-9 on third down. If the Texans can fix their conversion issues, then it should trickle down to providing more success throughout the offense.

All eyes are on the Houston Texans, the first NFL team to travel in COVID-19 era

The Houston Texans will be the first NFL team to travel during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the sports world is waiting for the aftermath, if any.

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The sports world will rejoice Thursday night as the NFL returns. True to the league’s intentions during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 season will kickoff on time. The NFL has not had to endure any delays as have all of the other major professional sports.

Fans and media will also be waiting for the other cleat to drop Friday morning. The NFL has done a fabulous job of forming 32 bubbles to keep COVID-19 out, but the Texans clashing with the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night presents an opportunity for transmissibility.

What will happen next?

According to Texans coach and general manager Bill O’Brien, the NFL has produced copious protocols to create a bubble around the visiting team as it travels to another team’s bubble.

“It’s got to be 40 pages worth of protocols on traveling,” said O’Brien. “Basically what the NFL up to this point has done, and all the teams have done, is you’ve created a bubble within your own facility as long as your players, which our players have done a great job, and your staff, staff has done a great job of just going from your stadium or where your facility is to home. You’ve created that bubble. Now with the travel protocols, you’re creating another bubble basically relative to your facility, the busses, the planes and then the hotel and then the stadium with which you play.”

Texans cornerback Bradley Roby is too focused on the Chiefs’ dangerous passing attack led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes and featuring receiver Tyreek Hill to even have anxiety over the novel coronavirus.

“I don’t think that much of it,” Roby said. “We’re going to get ready. Thankfully, we’re going to play with some people in the stands. I think that’s going to be a little better than having that first game and just having no one out there. I think it’ll kind of let us transition into having no fans at other places, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Staying at a hotel is one of the aspects of road games that could compromise the traveling bubble. Some players have preferred to go out the night before away games. However, for older veterans who have seen it all, such as tight end Darren Fells, going straight to the hotel from the airport and calling it a night is nothing new.

“That’s normal for me,” Fells said. “The biggest thing is really just having to go to another team’s facilities and play against them not knowing how they’ve been keeping the virus out of their building and what their protocols are. That’s the only thing that really worries me but I’m more focused on getting the W as of right now when it comes to football.”

Houston is intent on getting the W to start the season on the right track during a three-week murder’s row that features the Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens, and Pittsburgh Steelers. However, no matter the score, if they can come away from Kansas City with no positive COVID tests, it will be a win for the entire league.

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Texans’ Darren Fells has been pleased with TE Kahale Warring’s ‘huge growth’ in training camp

Houston Texans tight end Darren Fells has been pleased with the progress 2019 third-round pick Kahale Warring has made throughout training camp.

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Houston Texans tight end Kahale Warring didn’t have a rookie season in 2019 due to his placement on injured reserve. However, his growth from year one to year two has been evident.

According to tight end Darren Fells, the 6-5, 250-pound former water polo player has taken strides in his development during the advent of the 2020 season.

“He’s definitely made huge growth this year,” Fells said. “He’s gotten a lot of opportunity compared to last year where he got hurt and didn’t have the opportunity to grow as a player. He’s been out there and I’ve seen a lot of growth from him.”

One of the first successes Warring obtained was the third and final tight end spot on the Texans’ 53-man roster. Warring beat out former 2018 sixth-round pick Jordan Thomas for the roster spot. Thomas is now on the Arizona Cardinals’ practice squad.

What Thomas had that Warring didn’t is a track record with quarterback Deshaun Watson. Thomas caught four touchdown passes from Watson in his rookie season, and actually had the role Fells wrested away in 2019. Thomas sustained a rib injury that landed him on injured reserve last season and derailed his second season.

Warring is entering his second season, but it will be his first in terms of playing time. Nonetheless, Fells sees the potential in Warring.

Said Fells: “He’s always been an extremely talented player. It was just having to grow into the league not being able to play in the games, it’s tough to develop as a player when you don’t have that. But I’ve seen him grow a lot.”

The Texans may need Warring more for blocking and special teams play, but he could get his chances if the situation calls for it. If Warring can present himself as a dependable target for Watson, the Texans will have another athletic tight end in the passing game.

Texans TE Jordan Akins relying on his brains, not just athleticism

Houston Texans tight end Jordan Akins has used his athleticism to get by, but now uses his intelligence to thrive in his third season.

Houston Texans tight end Jordan Akins is having a consistent training camp replete with big plays. The former baseball player has showed up each day and not had any slumps throughout camp.

For the former 2018 third-round pick, the challenge has been to rely more on his own understanding of the game and not simply his athleticism.

“Instead of just using my athleticism, I really just set aside and picked the brains of vets,” Akins said. “I wanted to see how they think. Really, Darren Fells has been outstanding for me.”

Technically, Fells would be the only “vet” on the Texans’ roster as Kahale Warring missed his entire rookie year and Jordan Thomas is also entering his third year. But it isn’t just veterans on the roster that Akins seeks out for advice. Even former Texans tight end Jerell Adams is a source Akins consults with on how to play the game more intelligently.

“I still talk to Jerell Adams, and I watched a lot of film,” said Akins. “I kind of just found myself mentally, if that makes sense, for the game. I know my athleticism will speak for itself but that was my focus this offseason.”

Akins caught 36 passes for 418 yards and two touchdowns in his 16 games for Houston last year, nine of which he started. The 6-4, 243-pound tight end provides a reliable threat down the seam and should be another one of quarterback Deshaun Watson’s diverse weapons in the post-DeAndre Hopkins offense.

“I really was trying to see how the vets think and just put the athleticism and the mental together,” said Akins. “It seems to be working out fine for me this year.”

The Texans kickoff the regular season Sept. 10 versus the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. It could be Akins’ first chance to truly demonstrate he is melding the physical and mental aspects of the game.

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TE Darren Fells feeling at home entering second season with Texans

Houston Texans tight end Darren Fells is feeling at home in his second year with the AFC South club.

Darren Fells signed a two-year contract with the Houston Texans in the offseason.

For the first time since 2013-16 when the former basketball player was with the Arizona Cardinals, Fells would be staying with the same team.

“Obviously, it’s one of those things that I know I had to adjust to every single year having to go to a new team, so being able to come back to the same team and have a home, that’s a huge thing,” Fells said.

Fells knows his role with the Texans as he enters another season with Houston: the red zone. The 6-7, 270-pound tight end hauled in seven touchdown catches, all in the red zone. The scoring reception total matched DeAndre Hopkins’ total for the team-high in 2019.

With the Texans emphasizing third-year Jordan Akins as the team’s top tight end on the depth chart, Fells will be in the red zone threat role again.

“Also knowing my role going back in there and knowing what they expect from me, so I was able to work on things that I know I can improve on and get better on and help out the team pretty much,” said Fells.

Coach and general manager Bill O’Brien wanted to comprise the 2020 roster with “dependable, tough, smart” players and provide layers of productivity. Fells fit that bill, which is why reaching a contract agreement with the tight end was pretty easy.

“Really a guy that is just a really mature, good person who cares about winning, who cares about being a good teammate,” O’Brien said. “He really works hard to improve. We do a lot of things with the tight ends and he came into our system last year and he really learns well. He was able to produce. [Quarterback] Deshaun (Watson) has a lot of confidence in him in the passing game.”

The Texans also value Fells’ ability as a blocker. Houston has all five starting offensive linemen returning, and they will also have one of their better perimeter blockers reprising his role for 2020.

In the offseason, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Fells’ wife ensured her husband didn’t catch the illness, even if it meant he had to stay at home more with their two kids.

“My wife made me stay home because she said I’m the moneymaker, so I’m not allowed to get sick,” said Fells. “I was doing a lot more fatherhood stuff. I have a four-year-old and a two-year-old, so we were doing a lot of bike riding, swimming, just spending a lot of time with my kids and enjoying that time that I had.”

Fells was the Texans’ moneymaker in the red zone, and he seeks to do that and more in his second year in Houston.

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Texans TE Darren Fells knows what makes Deshaun Watson a ‘great’ quarterback

Houston Texans tight end Darren Fells knows what makes quarterback Deshaun Watson a great at the position.

Darren Fells has played with his fair share of quarterbacks, from Russell Wilson to Carson Palmer to Matthew Stafford.

According to the 6-7, 270-pound Houston Texans tight end, his current quarterback, Deshaun Watson, is already a great at the position.

“He is one of the most phenomenal quarterbacks I’ve ever played for,” Fells said. “His ability to learn from mistakes extremely quick is huge. I’ve never seen him miss two passes twice. He’ll miss one at practice one day and then he’ll never miss that again. That, in my mind, is one of the main differences that make up an average quarterback and a great quarterback.”

Fells was Watson’s biggest red zone target in every sense last year. The former basketball player caught seven touchdown passes from Watson, all in the red zone, and the scoring receptions tied DeAndre Hopkins for the most on the team.

Watson doesn’t simply excel in his athleticism. The way that Watson relates to his teammates and transmits the strategy is also what separates the former 2017 first-round pick from the rest of the pack.

“His ability to communicate, both in the huddle, on the field, off the field, is huge,” Fells said. “It just shows that he’s maturing extremely fast and he’s on another level when it comes to that ability.”

If Watson can take another step in his development, even as a great quarterback, the Texans should handily defend their AFC South title.

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Texans RB David Johnson and TE Darren Fells have a special relationship

The Houston Texans have two former Arizona Cardinals teammates on the roster in RB David Johnson and TE Darren Fells.

The acquisition of running back David Johnson formed a reunion of two former Arizona Cardinals teammates.

Already on the Texans’ roster was tight end Darren Fells, who played for the Cardinals from 2013-16.

When the Cardinals selected Johnson in the third round of the 2015 NFL Draft, the former Norther Iowa product described Fells, who had been with Arizona for two seasons, as still trying to figure out life in pro football.

“Honestly, we were both kind of fending for ourselves,” Johnson said. “With him being a tight end and me being a running back made a big difference as well. I did know that he picked up the offense pretty quickly and I know that he’s a professional first and foremost.”

Johnson says that Fells, who caught seven touchdowns for Houston last season, all in the red zone, can become a “second coach” in the position room after he learns the playbook.

“He knows how to handle himself on and off the field and me and him joke about it all the time that he was really the second coach in the tight ends room our year after he learned the playbook so fast,” said Johnson.

2015 was a special season for the Cardinals, who went 13-3, won the NFC West, and locked up the No. 2 seed in the conference en route to a conference title game appearance. Johnson produced 125 carries for 581 yards and eight touchdowns as a rookie, and Fells caught 21 passes for 311 yards and three touchdowns.

The success Johnson and Fells had together in Arizona can’t be forgotten, and they seek to replicate it with the Texans.

Said Johnson: “We’re trying to do the same thing here in Houston and I’m glad that I get a familiar face here that I don’t have to learn. We can kind of talk to each other and I know how he plays already and it’s going to help out our offense a lot just because I know his tendencies, that he’s blocker for the run game and he’s good in the red zone, scoring touchdowns.”

If the Texans were to repeat the Cardinals’ 2015 season, it would be a collection of franchise firsts and lend credibility to Bill O’Brien’s dual role as coach and general manager.

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Ranking the top-5 TEs in the AFC South

Who are the top TEs in the division?

The days of dominant tight end play in this division seem to be a thing of the past, at least entering the 2020 season. With no notable and dominant targets at the position, the AFC South is full of players that can make an argument for the top spot.

Some have solidified spots on their team but are simply lacking in explosiveness. Others are explosive yet unproven. Some simply are trying to keep their careers going.

Here, we rank the tight ends in the AFC South:

5. Tyler Eifert, Jacksonville Jaguars

Nobody can deny Eifert’s talent, but his inability to stay on the field has landed him in Jacksonville. The former Bengal played in all 16 games last year, but saw a significant decline in production. As the Jaguars look to rebuild their offense, we will see if Eifert is included in those plans.

Eifert has shown he can be a strong red-zone threat, evident by his 13 touchdowns in 2015. But that was five years ago. He’s simply trying to continue his career in a wasteland for tight ends.

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